1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a board-connecting electrical connector device that is interposed between a pair of wiring boards to electrically connect the wiring boards with each other.
2. Description of Related Art
Generally, in various electrical devices, for example, a board-connecting electrical connector device referred to as a stacking connector that electrically connects a pair of wiring boards with each other is widely employed. The electrical connector device of this type electrically connects first and second wiring boards with each other by mating the first electrical connector to which the first wiring board is coupled and the second electrical connector to which the second wiring board is coupled; wherein lock members for reliably maintaining the mutually mated state of the first and second electrical connectors are provided in some cases. For example, in an electrical connector device described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H3-266380, lock members provided on lateral-wall parts of main-body parts of first and second electrical connectors are slid to obtain an engaged state, thereby maintaining the mutually mated state of the first and second electrical connectors.
However, the lock members used in the conventional board-connecting electrical connector device are disposed on the lateral-wall parts of the connector main-body parts consisting of, for example, insulating housings. Therefore, the lock members are sometimes hidden between the wiring boards. Particularly in recent downsized/height-reduced electrical connector devices, it is difficult to operate engagement/release of the lock members; and, since the operation of engagement/release of the lock members cannot be visually checked, there is also a problem that it is difficult to check the lock state. Moreover, since the lock members are structured to project outward from the connector main-body parts, there is a tendency that the size of the whole connector is increased.
The inventors of the present application discloses below Patent Literature as a conventional technique of the invention of the present application.
[Patent Literature 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 1992(H03)-266380